Participants

Alex

When he was 14 years old and a student at Rokeby Secondary School in North East London, Alex* took part in Khulisa's 'Face It' programme. Alex moved to England from Poland when he was 3 years old, after his parents separated. From the age of 11, his teachers had identified that he was regularly getting into trouble with other children and having trouble managing his emotions. His mother was also struggling to cope with Alex's behaviour at home which had become aggressive, particularly towards his younger siblings.

"I learned about the different levels of violence including physical, emotional and verbal violence which helped me to realise that some of my behaviour that I thought was normal, could be seen as being violent by others... I enjoyed the programme very much and use the coping skills I have learned in my everyday life."

According to facilitator reports and feedback from Alex's parents and teachers, Alex also showed the following improvements as a result of his participation in the Face It programme:

• Alex was better able to identify his own triggers to anger and aggression; Alex identified that other students triggered him in class and he was able to develop coping skills to manage this, such as focusing on what the teachers were saying to block them out
• He was more able to show empathy towards others; Alex recognised that things may be difficult for his sister and that she is young and may not understand. This empathy has helped him to relate to her better strengthening their relationship. He has also applied this to other relationships.
• He identified goals for the future; Alex has started to believe in his potential and is considering going to college and then university when he leaves school. He would like to pursue his new found dream of becoming a sports coach. This has given him a clearer focus in his lessons at school
• Alex demonstrated enhanced consequential thinking; he now recognises that in order to achieve his goals he needs to remain focused and manage any potential conflict situations. Having clear goals to work towards acts as a deterrent for acting out on any of his negative thoughts.

*Participant names and images have been changed to protect privacy

Rajan

Rajan* was 13 when he joined Khulisa's Face It programme and says it has helped him to recognise and manage his anger problems. After years of experiencing difficulties at school caused by his short temper and regular outbursts during class, Rajan is now attending mainstream school regularly and has aspirations to build a career as a sports coach.

"I was introduced to the programme by my teachers ... they told me the Face It programme could help me develop better anger management skills. In the past some students would annoy me but now I have learnt to manage my temper and instead just concentrate on listening to the teachers and carrying on with my tasks. I have learnt to step back and think about my actions and rarely get into fights in school any more."

According to teachers who work with Rajan, the programme has resulted in a signficiant improvement on his attendance to class and his behaviour at school. They also reported an improvement in his relationship with fellow students and noted that he seems to be using better coping strategies when he feels frustrated.

"If I don’t understand anything in class then I don’t get frustrated any more and instead just ask my teacher to explain the task a bit more. I am now focused on my education and my ambition is to go to college and then university. I would really like to become a sports coach because even if I don’t make it as a professional sportsperson I can still help others to do well in sports. And if that doesn't work out then my back-up plan is to become a chef because I really love cooking."

A school teacher at Rajan's school said:

"Khulisa's Face It programme has been a great success and our students have benefited from taking part. For me, the mask-making task deals with the two sides of a person's personality and is a real turning point during the programe.... the Face It programme’s use of role play is also very engaging and the post programme support run by trained and highly skilled facilitators is invaluable. We are looking forward to running more programmes in the future."

*Participant names and images have been changed to protect privacy

Amy

Amy* is a resident at Caritas Anchor House, a community centre providing support and accommodation for vulnerable adults in Newham, East London. As part of her support plan, Amy’s support worker referred to her the Khulisa’s ‘Silence the Violence’ Programme in 2015.

After experiencing a series of personal incidents and emotional challenges in her life, Amy turned to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism which led to a criminal conviction and lengthy prison sentence.

"When I was first interviewed for the programme I wasn't sure if I could cope with it... but I found that I enjoyed the creative approach and discovered that I like expressing myself through art. The programme has really made me think, stop and re-assess situations"

When she was released from prison, Amy found herself homeless and with very few people to support her in her reintegration into the community. Her previous experiences and the trauma she’d experienced continued to manifest themselves in destructive and violent behaviour towards herself and others. With help from her support worker, Amy recognised that she needed to find new, more positive coping mechanisms and they agreed she would benefit from being able to talk about her past experiences. It was at this point that Amy was referred to the Khulisa team to take part in ‘Silence the Violence’, an intensive 5-day behaviour change group programme which uses art and drama to help participants to explore the root causes of their negative or violent behaviour.

Amy joined her group programme in June 2015, and although initially she found it difficult to open up and share her experiences, after engaging in some of the creative activities she discovered that she was able to express her thoughts and feelings through her artwork. This started a profound and empowering journey of self-discovery for Amy as she started to unburden herself of the guilt and shame she had been carrying and discovered alternative ways of coping with her emotions.

Amy described one of the ‘key moments’ on the programme as being able to recognise the physiological responses she has before she becomes angry and implementing positive steps to stop her from ‘acting out’.

"I was at a point in my life where I was sick of losing my temper. My lightbulb moment was realising that certains things that happened to me were not my fault. I’m aware of the physical responses that I have now when I’m feeling angry and I’m at a point in my life where I’m sick of losing my temper. Khulisa's programme has really opened my eyes to a whole new me."

Amy’s self-esteem and confidence also grew on the programme, helping her to visualise a brighter future and to recognise and build healthier relationships with others.
In the follow-up 1-1 sessions with the programme facilitators, Amy was able to reflect on what she’d learnt and go on to identify her aspirations for the future. She began thinking about how she could share her past experiences in order to help others, turning the negatives into positives. By December of 2015, she had identified some goals for her future, building a career in youth work and moving on to living independently.

Over the last 18 months, Amy has made great progress towards these goals and has:

• Secured her own accommodation and preparing for independent living - she loves having her own space and thoroughly enjoys cooking and even cleaning.
• Secured employment as a Volunteer Co-ordinator for the hostel where she currently lives – she manages the hostel’s volunteers and all administration of the volunteering programme.
• Successfully applied to complete a diploma in ‘Helping, Mentoring and Community’; the course will start in January 2018.
• Been accepted onto an Expert Advisory Panel for a national charity, using her experience of homelessness to help inform policy and practice.
• Applied to be on the Youth Volunteering Team, using her experience to support young people in her local community.

Silence the Violence’ has had a transformative impact on Amy’s life and she firmly believes that the Khulisa programme was the catalyst for this change. Even with her fantastic progress, Amy continues to work on her emotional well-being and has developed a keen interest in psychology. Over the last two years she has managed to deal with several challenging situations in a positive way, even acting as a role model to others at the hostel. Her creative flair (that she discovered on the Khulisa programme) has become a passion and a positive coping mechanism for times when she feels stressed or anxious and she continues to channel her emotions into creative writing.

Amy describes her life now as being one of excitement and intrigue:

“I’m so glad that I took that first step in exploring my emotions, I’ve come a long way since doing the ‘Silence the Violence’ programme. Although at times I still have my challenges I am so far from the angry person I used to be, I can manage so much better. Khulisa's programme has really opened my eyes to a whole new me. I take each day as it comes but I see it as being exciting now and who knows what is around the corner for me with all the options I’m exploring.”

*Participant names and images have been changed to protect privacy

Daniel

Daniel* is 23 years old and was sentenced in 2014 to 5 years imprisonment for robbery and possession of a weapon. He had experienced a very volatile childhood and was adopted at the age of 8 years old. When Daniel turned 17, his adoptive mother died suddenly and Daniel was unable to cope with the pain. He turned to drugs and alcohol to block out his feelings and developed a chronic addiction.

Daniel’s addiction led to him stealing from and abusing people, emotionally as well as physically over a number of years. By the time he came to prison he was carrying vast amounts of guilt and shame and believed that there was no positive future ahead for him. Whilst in prison, Daniel contemplated taking his own life.

Daniel had heard about the Khulisa Programme through a fellow inmate who suggested he might benefit from the programme. During the pre-programme assessment, it became clear that Daniel was very depressed and unable even to make eye contact. He had been let down by a series of people in his life and found it difficult to trust others.

Daniel describes his experience of the Khulisa programme:

"The Khulisa programme really helped me to regain my confidence. I like the feeling in the group room that the facilitators created where we were able to discuss topics without judgement or criticism. It was so nice to be accepted by the other participants and for them to value me and listen to my views. I realised that the behaviour that led me coming into prison wasn't really the ‘true me’. The real me is a decent, caring man and the facilitators saw my potential which allowed me to see it in myself. The Khulisa course gave me back the voice that I had lost and never thought I would find again"

Daniel's support workers identified the following benefits in him taking part in the Khulisa programme:

• An increase in confidence and self esteem - which led to him applying for jobs within the prison and obtaining a trusted role working on the wings.
• An increase in motivation - since completing the Programme Daniel has been attending the prison gym. Prior to this he had found it impossible to get the motivation to do any exercise.
• More able to identify goals for the future - Daniel was able to work through how he would like his life to be in the future and set realistic goals to obtain this.
• Improved ability to identify triggers and manage emotions - after the programme, Daniel was able to deal with conflict situations in a more positive way by thinking about the impact of his actions in relation to his goals

*Participant names and images have been changed to protect privacy